Madden NFL 18 Tops August NPD Sales

The NPD has released its August 2017 NPD report. Video game spending is down in the U.S. The only exception to the downward trend is from the accessories category, which is up 10 percent year over year.

A total of $282 million changed hands to purchase software for PC and consoles last August, down 3 percent from the year before. EA was the top-selling publisher, and Madden NFL 18, which debuted on August 25, was the overall top-selling game for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The top sports gaming titles are Madden NFL 18 and NBA 2K17, which rank first and 19th, respectively. MLB The Show fell off the top 20.

This month, only Madden made the top ten for both consoles. However, things are likely to change in September with the release of titles like FIFA 18, PES 18, and WRC 7.

Madden 18 and NBA 2K17 are the only two sports titles on the top-selling list for 2017, with the eighth and ninth ranking, respectively. But calling the last 12 months, we get NBA 2K17 at the third place, Madden NFL 17 at the fifth place, and FIFA 17 ranked seventh.

Accessories continue their upward swing from July, when they grew 9%. Last month, the sector grew a whole 10 percent as compared to August 2016. Mostly, the growth was due to the Nintendo Switch and the new Xbox One controllers.

“The Xbox One S White Wireless Controller was the best-selling accessory of the month, while the Switch Pro Controller is the best-selling accessory year to date,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said.

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An avid player of sports management games, Alessandro writes about hockey for several online outlets in all over the world. His work appeared, among the others, on The Hockey News, Hockey’s Future, The Hockey Writers and many other. His interest in sports gaming dates back to 1998 with Championship Manager. Today, most of his gaming engagement, much limited by his 3-years-old lovely time-killer, is dedicated to Eastside Hockey Manager.